Inside The Bills

As we profiled in our feature story on Buffalobills.com today (Saturday) the Bills need to reverse the trend of performance in division games. After winning their first division game last season against New England, they dropped the rest of them. They also went 1-5 in the division in 2010. Here’s a look at how the division matchups shape up as the season unfolds.

The first division test comes quickly as they’re on the road to face the Jets in Week 1. It’s a chance to get a leg up right away on the Jets and the rest of the AFC East. The only issue here is the Bills won’t know exactly what the Jets have up their sleeve with respect to Tim Tebow, but there are two sides to that coin.

Buffalo then gets to host New England in Week 4 before having to face them again in Week 10. Knowing the Patriots will have two weeks to prepare for the second matchup coming off a bye, the Bills have to take the first meeting to help their chances of posting a winning record in the AFC East.

The Bills last three division games are arguably easier in terms of opponent and venue. They get the Dolphins at home, albeit off four days rest from the road game at New England (far from ideal) in a prime time game, and then travel to Miami in Week 16 before hosting the Jets in the season finale. It’ll be real interesting if Buffalo and New York are still fighting for playoff position in Week 17.